IanO said:
That was a really good test for the system and I am very pleased to hear that it looks like it is quite robust; the last thing this line needed was another issue.
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Yup, great to see especially given that there are hardly any cities in the world that operate an lrt system in these temperatures that we just experienced.
 
EtoV said:
But interestingly, I don't think there's any more sketchy people on transit in edmonton than there is in Vancouver. There is however a difference in total ridership. There may be the same number of sketchy seeming people, but the ratio of them is much lower. They're less noticeable because they make up a smaller percentage of the ridership. You also feel the safety in numbers, that there's enough people around that you don't feel like they're likely to try anything. If there's two sketchy people on the platform it's pretty noticeable when there's only a few other people there with you. Not as much when there's 50 or more there with you.
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I've been saying this for years, now, not just about transit, but the city (and DT, in particular) as a whole. Edmonton does not have more sketchy people than any other major city, but the ratio is higher.
We oughta find ways to change that, and if we can, the perception of both the LRT and Downtown will change drastically
 
David A said:
There are many things the city could do to encourage more transit use, but ETS does not have much of a customer service mentality.

In the short term, special pricing for certain major events downtown and elsewhere might help. In the medium to long run making it more convenient would help.

For instance, instead of making seniors walk blocks and blocks, how about having more stops outside of seniors residences, trying to improve on time service and more frequent service on certain routes would help too.

I feel the choice made now is not to try increase use, but to try reduce the number of sketchy people riding. It is probably cheaper and easier and may help some, but I am not sure it will help that much in the long run.
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I'm at a loss for the comment that ETS doesn't have much of a customer service mentality.

I feel that any special pricing for major events could be detrimental to regular service. If the funding comes out of the regular ETS budget, then where are you regular cutting service to compensate? Special event service does not represent the bread and butter of ETS operations, although, I feel usually does a really good job of any service they do provide.

Besides, ETS already has special pricing. The Daypass doubles as a Family Pass which allows 5 people to travel, with 2 being adults over 24 years old. Elks tickets also include transit use, regular or park and ride. I believe there have been discounts offered with The Fringe. Special pricing could have a negative effect of overwhelming service which might actually be a deterrent if riders are packed in, and while the solution would then be to run more special event service, that comes at a cost. Will getting more passengers for special event service actually convert riders into regular transit users?

I'm curious if you know of any seniors residences that don't have bus stops outside of them?

And as for more frequent service, ETS has long been working on this. The entire purpose of the BNR was to bring in more frequent service in core areas and I certainly feel that it did. Since then, ETS has generally only increased frequencies, and there is another round of frequency increases to various routes, not to mention articulated bus redeployment coming this February. Much like when On Demand was created and represented an increase to the ETS budget, transferring the 73's funding to the regular ETS budget represents a further increase to the ETS budget.
 
IanO said:
That was a really good test for the system and I am very pleased to hear that it looks like it is quite robust; the last thing this line needed was another issue.
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I have been quite happy with what I have seen with the Valley Line so far. No rail breaks or catenary issues with the cold weather.
My bigger concern for reliability is other weather conditions like snow (there seemed to be issues when the snow was coming down, and after) or freezing rain.

The Capital and Metro Line seemed to have had a few issues over the last few days. I saw a dead SD consist at Century Park Friday morning. Trains were running slower on the Capital Line on Thursday (likely due to the issue of U2's sucking in powdery snow at higher speeds which then melts inside and causes issues, I believe, with the traction motors). Friday or Saturday there were system wide announcements that the LRT was facing delays due to weather conditions, although I didn't actually notice any myself.

Interestingly today, at the Northbound/ Westbound platform at the Churchill Connector had a message scrolling that the platform was closed and to use the other platform for trains in both directions. It must have been an erroneous message as trains were using the platform. I suspect that might have meant they were using only the one platform at some point in the recent past.
 
ETS does not have a customer service mentality, they have a passenger service mentality. This is because ETS is not a business run for profit.
 
Yeah, a passenger service mentality like the airlines? Except they don't lose bags. The first rationalization of bad service is often to not treat people as customers.
 
David A said:
Yeah, a passenger service mentality like the airlines? Except they don't lose bags. The first rationalization of bad service is often to not treat people as customers.
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No, a *customer service mentality* like the airlines where you don't have a ticket, you aren't allowed to board.

Customer service can only be expected if customer pays market price to ensure the business stays in business.
 
Last time I checked there was a fare box right at the front of the bus or a place to tap the payment card, so payment seems to be a big thing for ETS too.

With that payment comes some expectations of service. Of course there is a need for fares to cover a significant portion of the cost, because taxpayers who are not transit users are understandably not so keen about covering the whole cost of it. So while transit is not entirely covered by customer payments, it is definitely a part of the model.

I don't think the people who run the system are always mindful of the fact people who use it do pay, so if service is not good they put that portion of their budget towards other transportation options.
 
Last time I checked as well there was also an extreme cold weather alert with drivers allowed to exercise discretion for boarding passengers. Imagine that at an airline!

It's very simple, running a public transit service means less of an emphasis on quality, because the operational mandate is based on essential need. If there is enough usage that the organisation approaches competitiveness, great. That doesn't always happen, especially not in NA.

This often is ignored or misunderstood by the paying public who only understands the concept of 'customer is king'. Such is the culture of capitalist NA.
 
Oh, nobody really expects the customer is king any more. But in a free country, you can't force people who pay to use transit, or any other particular transportation service.

The extreme cold weather has affected service with many forms of transportation and discretion is exactly that, but essential need is not a good argument for poor or mediocre service.
 
Foolworm said:
ETS does not have a customer service mentality, they have a passenger service mentality. This is because ETS is not a business run for profit.
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Agreed

They do have recovery ratios in terms of fare revenue, but it does seem the current approach is based on this being a social service for the poor, not transportation for the masses. Besides revealing a disrespectful attitude towards lower income people, this approach also has the effect of making transit worse for everyone, including low income persons.
 
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